News

Twelve South’s new ActionSleeve for Apple Watch is designed for the active lifestyle

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 4, 2017

Twelve South has removed the veil from the all-new ActionSleeve accessory for Apple Watch, which is an armband accessory tailored specifically for the active lifestyle. It's made to work with all sizes of arms and works with both the 38mm and 42mm variants of the smart watch.

ActionSleeve is intended to provide those who participate in more rigorous sporting activities a more secure way to wear the Apple Watch when the stock wrist location isn’t ideal, and it does so in a complementary way without sacrificing any of the Apple Watch's functionality.

DJI introduces new Osmo accessories for iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ January 4, 2017

Leading drone manufacturer DJI late Tuesday introduced two new Osmo accessories for iPhone at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: the Osmo Mobile Silver and the Osmo Zenmuse M1. The former is a silver edition of DJI's already popular gimbal stabilizer, and the latter is a smartphone mount for the original Osmo stabilizer.

Prometheus and TSSChecker: recent developments you should be aware of

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ Updated February 23, 2021

It's been a busy period for tihmstar's suite of tools since the release of Prometheus during the 33c3 convention. Both TSSChecker and Prometheus have seen some problems, as well as updates in the intervening period, and this article will bring you up to date with their current statuses.

Intel announces Kaby Lake processors for Macs and more

Cody Lee ∙ January 3, 2017

Intel on Tuesday officially announced its full 7th generation Intel Core processor line, known by many as Kaby Lake, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There are over 40 new performance-class processors in the family, which are based on Intel's 14nm+ process technology, that offer more speed, productivity and security than previous generations.

Report: new Apple Watch coming this fall with better battery, similar design

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 5, 2017

Apple plans to introduce a next-generation Apple Watch in the third quarter of this year, reports Economic Daily News. Citing market watchers, the Chinese outlet says the new wearable will feature better performance and longer battery life.

The Watch is expected to be manufactured by Quanta Computer, who was responsible for building the first and second-gen models, and their focus will be improving the battery. The hardware will not likely see much change, the report added.

Rumor: Apple seeding first iOS 10.3 beta on January 10 with new ‘Theatre’ mode

Cody Lee ∙ January 2, 2017

Apple is going to begin seeding iOS 10.3 betas next week, reports Sonny Dickson. The noted tipster tweeted out over the weekend that iOS 10.3 beta 1 is currently scheduled to be released to developers on January 10 with an all-new 'Theatre' mode.

Dickson doesn't go into detail on exactly what 'Theatre' mode is, but does say that it will feature a popcorn-shaped icon in Control Center. It's possible this is a stealth mode of sorts, with either a dimmed display or dark UI assets for less distraction.

Daily brief: Russia vs. App Store fees, Intel launches new laptop chips & other stories today

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated September 2, 2020

Welcome to iDownloadBlog's Daily Brief column in which we round up the most important news you should know about, peppered with our commentary. And be sure to touch base with us throughout the day as we're continually updating this article with fresh new content.

How about Jet Black AirPods?

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2016

If it hadn't been for the new gloss and matte black color options, this year's iPhone 7 refresh would have admittedly been underwhelming as most buyers are not eager to buy the same basic handset design for three years in a row. Which begs the question of Jet Black AirPods you've been dreaming about.

Colors are important and no matter how you look at it, black-clad AirPods would perfectly compliment the superior sheen of Jet Black iPhone 7. Well, earlier this month Dutch artist Martin Hajek took it upon himself to imagine what a pair of AirPods done in black would look like.

2017 iPhone 7 production cut by 10 percent

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2016

Several analysts interviewed recently by The Wall Street Journal opined that iPhone 7's supposed lack of compelling features probably convinced many owners of the exploding Note 7 to opt for another high-end Galaxy handset, and not Apple's flagship phone.

Their remarks were corroborated today by supplier data collected by Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asian Review, which claims Apple is planning to cut iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus orders by ten percent starting in the first quarter of 2017 after they “sold more sluggishly than expected”.

Changes to Apple’s TSS servers currently render Prometheus non functional

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ Updated May 8, 2017

Update: tihmstar has stated that the tool is working perfectly, and that he has used it successfully multiple times today. However, some users have been encountering a TSS server error when using the tool nonetheless.

Hot on the heels of Prometheus' release at the 33c3 convention two days ago, tihmstar's tool for upgrading and downgrading to unsigned iOS firmwares seems already to have hit a snag. Following some changes to Apple's TSS servers today, the nature of which are yet to be investigated, the tool has been rendered non-functional at the present time.

Foxconn has 10 fully automated production lines

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2016

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn continues to replace factory workers with industrial robots, called Foxbots. These machines take advantage of artificial intelligence to perform elaborate assembly work more efficiently than humans can. As of May 2016, Foxbots had replaced as many as 60,000 factory workers and now a new report from DigiTimes details progress the contract manufacturer has since made in terms of boosting automated production across its facilities in China.

Apple has reportedly commissioned three different manufacturers to build iPhone 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 30, 2016

Hedging its bets, Apple has apparently commissioned a third contract manufacturer to build iPhone 8 alongside established suppliers and longtime partners Foxconn and Pegatron. According to a Chinese-language report in the Economic Daily News newspaper, quoted by Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes, Apple supplier Wistron will get to build some of the future iPhone units.